John Balch House | |
 John Balch House, Beverly, Massachusetts. | |
| Location | 448 Cabot St. Beverly, Massachusetts |
|---|---|
| Built | 1679 [1] |
| NRHP reference No. | 73000275 |
| Added to NRHP | February 23, 1973 |
The John Balch House, located at 448 Cabot Street, Beverly, Massachusetts, is one of the oldest wood-frame houses in the United States. It is now operated as one of the historic house museums of Historic Beverly, and open seasonally.
John Balch gained title to the land on November 11, 1635, through the "Thousand Acre Grant" and apparently was living on this property by 1636. This was the date assigned to the house by the Beverly Historic Society. Architectural historians, including Abbott Lowell Cummings, the leading expert on early New England architecture, were only sure that the Balch House was a seventeenth-century house. In 2006, dendrochronological analysis dated the earliest portion (the right-hand side) to 1679. The southern portion of the house was built in 1721. [1]
The house remained within the Balch family until 1916, though with periods of tenant rental. It was then acquired by the Balch Family Association. [2] They hired Norman Isham, a popular preservation architect, to evaluate the house. After finding original rafters in the attic, he recommended that the back lean-to be ripped off and the southern half of the house be dismantled. This plan was eventually modified to expose and recreate the roofline of the original story and a half structure. Thus today's house has been heavily shaped by intentional restoration. In 1932, the home was turned over to the Beverly Historical Society (now Historic Beverly), [3] which maintains and operates it today.
Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Shore, Beverly includes Ryal Side, North Beverly, Montserrat, Beverly Farms and Prides Crossing. Beverly is a rival of Marblehead for the title of being the "birthplace of the U.S. Navy".
Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mooring, winter storage, and maintenance of recreational boats, motor and sail, still contribute a large part of the city's income. A Coast Guard station oversees boating activity, especially in the sometimes dangerous tidal currents of the Merrimack River.
Wenham is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts. The population was 4,979 at the time of the 2020 census.
The North Shore is a region in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, loosely defined as the sea coast between Boston and New Hampshire. Its counterpart is the South Shore region extending south and east of Boston.
The Spencer–Peirce–Little Farm is a Colonial American farm located at 5 Little's Lane, Newbury, Massachusetts, United States, in the midst of 231 acres (93 ha) of open land bordering the Merrimack River and Plum Island Sound. The farmhouse, dating to c. 1690, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968 as an extremely rare 17th-century stone house in New England. It is now a nonprofit museum owned and operated by Historic New England and open to the public several days a week during the warmer months; an admission fee is charged for non Members.
The John Cabot House is a historic house at 117 Cabot Street in downtown Beverly, Massachusetts. Built in 1781 by a prominent local businessman and ship owner, it was the town's first brick mansion house. It is now owned by Historic Beverly and open to the public five days a week. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
The Pickering House is a First Period Colonial house at 18 Broad Street, in Salem, Massachusetts' McIntire Historic District. The house was owned and occupied by ten successive generations of the Pickering family including Colonel Timothy Pickering. This house is believed to have been the oldest house in the United States continuously occupied by one family. However, in 1998, the Goodhue family moved into the house, with Albert Goodhue as the primary caretaker. It is located at 18 Broad Street, Salem, Massachusetts and is open to the public under the auspices of the nonprofit Pickering Foundation. Across the street is the Broad Street Cemetery, one of the three oldest in Salem.
The Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts is a historic house built c. 1637, making it the oldest surviving timber-frame house in North America that has been verified by dendrochronology testing. Puritan settler Jonathan Fairbanks constructed the farm house for his wife Grace and their family. The house was occupied and then passed down through eight generations of the family until the early 20th century. Over several centuries the original portion was expanded as architectural styles changed and the family grew.
The Old Ship Church is a Puritan church built in 1681 in Hingham, Massachusetts. It is the only surviving 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in the United States. Its congregation, gathered in 1635 and officially known as First Parish in Hingham, occupies the oldest church building in continuous ecclesiastical use in the country. On October 9, 1960, it was designated a National Historic Landmark, and on November 15, 1966, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Applecrest Farm Orchards is a year-round apple orchard in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. It is considered the oldest and largest apple orchard in the state of New Hampshire and the oldest continuously operated apple orchard in the United States, having opened in 1913.
The Rebecca Nurse Homestead is a historic colonial house built ca. 1678 located at 149 Pine Street, Danvers, Massachusetts. It had many additions through the years, eventually being historically restored and turned into a museum in 1909. Today it is owned and operated by the Danvers Alarm List Company, a volunteer non-profit organization of Revolutionary War reenactors, and is part of the Salem Village Historic District.
Glen Magna Farms is a historic country estate located at the end of Ingersoll Street, Danvers, Massachusetts. It is currently owned by the Danvers Historical Society and open daily. An admission donation is suggested. Guided tours of the house and gardens are offered from May to July and includes a box lunch.
Balch may refer to:
The Myles Standish Burial Ground in Duxbury, Massachusetts is, according to the American Cemetery Association, the oldest maintained cemetery in the United States.
The Beverly Historical Society, located in Beverly, Massachusetts, was founded in 1891, and its headquarters is the 1781 John Cabot House, which has two floors of museum exhibits. The collections have grown to more than 750,000 objects, including manuscripts, books, photographs, maps, decorative arts, and other artifacts related to the history of Beverly and the North Shore. The Society acquired two 17th century properties in the 1930s, the John Balch House and the John Hale House, which it opens to the public for guided tours.
Bradstreet Farm in Rowley, Mass. is believed to be the second-oldest continually operating farm in the U.S. Originally deeded by King Charles I of England to Humphrey Bradstreet in 1635, the property remained in the Bradstreet Family for many generations until 2007, when the Town of Rowley purchased the 120-acre parcel including a 19th century farmhouse and 18th century barn. The Town set aside 103 acres as conservation land, and sold seven acres including the farmhouse and barn as a private residence with historic preservation restrictions. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Bluefish River is a stream in Duxbury, Massachusetts ending in a tidal river estuary that was the center of an active shipbuilding industry during the early 19th century. Its source is a set of small ponds located near the intersection of Partridge Road and Washington Street, about one-third of a mile from Hall's Corner in Duxbury. The river is fed by Hounds Ditch Brook which empties into the Bluefish at the tidal estuary. The river contains Duxbury’s second anadromous fish run, with a privately-owned fish ladder south of Harrison Street. A large portion of the northern shore of the Bluefish River estuary is occupied by the Capt. David Cushman Preserve operated by the Wildlands Trust which contains walking trails with views of the estuary. Near its mouth, the river passes under the stone Bluefish River Bridge, a local landmark and part of the Old Shipbuilders Historic District. The river discharges into Duxbury Bay between Long Point and Bumpus Park.
St. Paul's Church is an Episcopal Church in Dedham, Massachusetts
42°33′44″N70°53′3.8″W / 42.56222°N 70.884389°W
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